22 October 20002 Like so many first combat missions, mine started before dawn. As I gathered with my fellow business students for the ride into Chicago, we could hear geese honking to each other above the overcast as they formed up for their flight South. It seemed like a good omen to me.

Later in the day, after touring the sites we had come to visit, we were released on our own recognizance until it was time to board the train for the return trip. After a quick meal, I headed down Jackson. Because of all the walking we were doing and post-9/11 security concerns at all our stops (Merc, Board of Trade, Options Exchange, The Fed) I was carrying only a large paper sign (approx. 22 X 14in.) with a U.S. flag on one side and "ONE Iraqi Nuclear Weapon Can Ruin Your Whole Day." on the other. I had folded it so it would hang in the hood of my field jacket, which hangs down inside the back of the jacket when the collar is zipped up. I figured I would look for targets of opportunity at Klucynski Federal Plaza (the anti-war protesters mentioned by usconservative), freeping them if they were there, finding something else to do if not. What I found at the Plaza was the "Refuse and Resist" protest elisabeth had suggested. Since my sign wasn't appropriate for the Mumia useful-idiot crowd, I was unsure what I was going to do. I decide to recon.

Tally-Ho!! I soon realized I had found my target. There were five tables aligned along one side of the plaza, all staffed by whites, while a predominately black crowd and black speakers made a lot of noise about 75-100 feet away. At every table (save one) there was anti-police stuff and Free Mumia stuff, but each table also displayed Communist literature and anti-American propaganda focused on the War on Terror. Some also displayed anti-Israel stuff. I stopped at the tables in turn (I probably should have whipped the sign right out, but I just couldn't resist poking these folks a bit first) starting with a guy I'll call TotalCommie because he was the only one who had no anti-police literature, and engaged in some conversations. Here's some pretty typical stuff from my conversation with TotalCommie:

ME: Could you elaborate on this sign? "No to U.S. imperialist war?" How can the war be imperialist if we are under attack and we're not trying to gain territory?

TotalCommie: Oh, now we live in one of the most imperialist and oppressive nations in world history. The fact that we were attacked doesn't change that nature. Are you familiar with the writings of Lenin?

ME: Would that be the same Vladimir Ilyich Lenin who said his ideas would succeed because "useful idiots" in the West would defend him?

TotalCommie: (Eyes narrowing) Not exactly.

A later exchange, after he explained (at length) what went wrong with the communist system in practice...

ME: OK...I want to make sure I see where you're coming from, so let me sum up.

TotalCommie: (sure he's finally getting somewhere) OK.

ME: The Leninists had a great system going, but then the Stalinists took over and committed all these atrocities and suppression of basic freedoms. So, communism would have worked out well in the Soviet Union if the Stalinists hadn't bumped off the Leninists.

TotalCommie: That's what I'm saying.

ME: Sure. Bumped 'em off just like the Leninists bumped off the Romanov family.

TotalCommie: Now, wait a minute. We had a revolution in this country, and don't you believe that was a good thing?

ME: Sure.

TotalCommie: And when we were having our revolution, people who represented or sided with the British Crown were sometimes killed, and a lot of them were tarred and feathered. They were part of an outmoded system.

ME: OK...I get it now...being part of an outmoded system makes you eligible for summary execution without trial, even if you're a kid like the majority of the dead Romanovs. I don't remember any accounts from the American Revolution about people rounding up little kids and punching their tickets. And you still haven't explained what this has to do with Fidel Castro and the people swimming through shark-infested waters to get away from him. [This guy just looooooves Castro. Thinks he's the second coming of Lenin for some reason.]

Basically, what all the Commies want us to know is that a) none of them are pro-Saddam, b) all those millions killed by communist states were victims of Stalin's Fascists, not communism, which is great stuff, c) Mao was pretty cool, too and the folks now running China are fascists and d) America sucks.

Before I knew it, the rally was breaking up. Disappointed, I was going to head out when the table attendant I was speaking with said that this was a scheduled intermission (My wife's theory: It was a mass doobage break) and the rally would resume in 30-45 minutes. Since the plaza was emptying, I took the time to go gather my thoughts. I took a walk around downtown for a while, soaking up atmosphere.

As if I needed any more resolve, as I came back into the plaza I saw a plaque on the side of one of the Federal buildings commemorating it as the spot where the first synagogue in Chicago was established. I passed through the cop line, stationed myself next to TotalCommie's table and unfurled the sign. I got immediate reaction. The first person who approached me was a white boy of 10-12 who was wearing camo and the usual extremist lib buttons, including one that said "KILL WHITEY". Kid had a foul mouth, and seemed amazed and truly disturbed that I would think America is not the problem. To make a long story short, quite a few protesters came up and tried to argue with me, and with the exception of the kid, every single one started with an argument based on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I soon developed a pat answer to it: "Well, I'd prefer that not happen to Chicago. I'd also prefer it not happen to Japan again, which is why I oppose North Korea's nuclear arsenal." Fortunately, the speakers at the main show of the protest were so loud that I didn't have to listen to much of this prattle. I was told time and time again that my sign was inappropriate because the rally was against the police, not against the war. In each case, I pointed out that more than three quarters of the table literature was pro-communist, anti-war or anti-Israel/anti-semitic, so I saw no real difference. Few of these folks were mad when they got to me, but almost all were mad when they walked away--I was trying to be as Cool Hand Luke as possible. Seems like nothing ticks them off more than a person who is dispensing reality and refuses to get mad at them.

I saw some interesting T-Shirts and buttons, including one that said "No Jews" and a T-shirt with a cross with an arrow pointing to the bottom with the instruction "THIS END UP." Reaction to my sign by folks passing by the protest was either neutral or positive--most either looked away or gave me a smile/thumbs up. I got a lot of smiles from cops, especially a small group of them who were buying some anti-cop buttons. The buttons are shaped like a yellow diamond traffic sign; they show one silhouette shooting another and say "DANGER: POLICE IN AREA."

By around 2:15, the speakers had finished, the sound system was blaring anti-police rap and the table folks were packing up. I waited until all the tables were broken up, then egressed the target area in the direction of Dunkin Donuts, looking for coffee.

Heartening: Out of about ten folks at the Commie tables, nine were easily old enough to be my parents, and I'm in my thirties. Disheartening: That kid broke my heart, and I'd never run across an actual out and out anti-semite before, much less a whole gaggle of them.

Congratulations on your excellent first freep and the great report. Remember the admonition to "Light one little candle to expell the darkness"? Well, that's most certainly what you did. You will never know how many hearts you reached with your one person freep.

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